Europa Universalis IV - Mod Spotlight - Anbennar pt 1, 2023

ANBENNAR: MOD SPOTLIGHT #1​

Hello EU4 community, and welcome to the first Anbennar Mod Spotlight!
Today, JayBean, the creator of Anbennar and Lead Writer Karlov will be introducing you to the Anbennar EU4 mod and the Anbennar setting as a whole as part of EU4’s 10th birthday celebration in this first of a two-part series.

We'll let JayBean and Karlov take it away:

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Anbennar is a fantasy total conversion mod set in an original setting inspired by D&D settings like Forgotten Realms as well as settings like Dragon Age and The Witcher. But first, let’s begin with a question:

Have you ever wanted to see how a fantasy world evolves PAST the medieval era?
How wizards react to the advent of gunpowder?
Or what if colonial exploration actually unearthed relics of immense magical power?

Anbennar is all about exploring those themes and more.
In the EU4 mod you’ll be playing through a fantasy world set during the same time span as vanilla (1444-1821). You’ll witness all the events and themes of the early modern period albeit through a fantasy lens.
Watching how a fantasy world evolves through the ages is something we don't often get to see, let alone play through, but PDX games give us the perfect platform to tell these stories - and so enters Anbennar: A Fantasy Total Conversion mod for Europa Universalis IV.

SCREENSHOTS​

We’ve been around for five years now, and later this year Anbennar is aiming to release our largest ever update, Scions of Sarhal, and we are incredibly excited to introduce our version of Africa when it drops in Q4 (and we finally update the mod to 1.35 - we hear you, chorus of people in the steam comments)!

But our special EU4 10th Anniversary Dev Diaries aren't just about that update.
We’re about to take you on a grand tour of Anbennar as a whole, showcasing the regions of the world, their cool gameplay mechanics, systems, and the lore you can expect when you download the mod. Additionally, we’ll share some insight and commentary on how and why we brought these unique twists on EU4 gameplay to life.

THE WORLD​

Anbennar is set in the world of Halann, in the year 1444 AA (After Ash, as in Day of Ashen Skies)

When you arrive on the country select screen, you’ll be faced with a world that is very much not the Earth we’re all so familiar with. In our world, which we call Halann, you’ll find continents destroyed by orcish invasion and magical apocalypse, vast mountains that conceal the bones of ancient empires, and unique terrain, like underground caverns, cursed swamps, and enchanted forests. On this canvas, enclaves of elves, dwarven holdfasts, human kingdoms and more vie for supremacy.


All of that can be a bit overwhelming for the first time player, so we’re hoping we can provide a quick jumping off point for three of the world’s regions today - Cannor, Bulwar, and the Dwarovar.

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THE LORE​

A WORLD REBUILT FROM ASH​

Perhaps the single most defining event in the history of the world was the Day of Ashen Skies, a cataclysmic event that occurred in the Year 0, 1444 years before the mod’s start date. The final consequence of a great civil war within the elven Precursor Empire, this magical catastrophe that obliterated civilization on the western continent of Aelantir and sent magical shockwaves rippling across the planet.


The Day of Ashen skies left behind a circular crater the size of a small continent, surrounded by huge cliffs represented in-game by a ring of wasteland provinces.

As Aelantir was torn apart, the rest of the world was stuck by earthquakes, tsunamis, and magical catastrophes that left scars present to this day. Some few elves, however, managed to escape the doom of their civilization and were magically trapped at sea for centuries before they eventually landed on the eastern continent of Cannor nearly 1000 years after the catastrophe. Here they became intimately involved with the politics of the human states on the continent, forever changing the course of their history.

In our 1444 game-start, however, the Day of Ashen Skies and the elven Landing is left to the annals of history, and the continent of Cannor is facing a very different challenge. Twenty years ago the orcish warlord Korgus Dookanson led his people out of the Serpentspine Mountains in a massive invasion known as the Greentide, conquering kingdom after kingdom and forcing thousands to flee before him.


The Marcher Lords facing the Greentide Vanguard

The Greentide advanced ceaselessly before being turned back by an army of adventurers led by the legendary hero Corin. Both Corin and the Dookanson slew each other on 10th Nerament, 1444, ending the orcish invasion and ushering a new era of opportunity in its wake, no doubt upsetting the balance of power for years to come.

Our game starts one day after this event, with the continents of Cannor, Bulwar, and the Dwarovar in chaos. How history plays out in the aftermath is up to you to decide.

THE REGIONS​

Cannor: End of the Lilac Wars​

A totally unbiased description: the Usurper.


Cannor proper is centered around the Dameshead Sea, with Gerudia to the far north and Escann to the east


Cannor proper is dominated by the Regent Court, our take on a classic D&D pantheon. A far cry from the Catholic church that dominates Europe in vanilla EU4.

Cannor is the equivalent of Europe in our setting, and the place where most players start. As such, from a gameplay perspective it’ll be the most vanilla (whilst still holding a few surprises), and from a lore perspective anyone familiar with contemporary fantasy should feel right at home.


The Empire of Anbennar hugs the Dameshead Sea

Anbennar gains its namesake from Cannor’s version of the HRE, the aptly named Empire of Anbennar (EoA), and anyone who looks at it with the culture map mode on will instantly see it is inhabited by a plethora of different races: humans, elves, halflings, dwarves, gnomes, and gnolls can all be found within its borders. Look a little beyond the EoA, and you find kobolds, goblins, orcs and trolls.

As a small tidbit on the elves, the Empire of Anbennar as a whole is vastly elvenized, with many of its provinces taking on elven names. But I do want to note that in Cannor the elves are recent, arriving only in the year 1000 during our equivalent of the medieval era, as I wanted to set Anbennar apart from contemporary fantasy worlds like The Witcher, Dragon Age or Forgotten Realms where elves are not only old, but have been in the continent before humans were ever a thing. This means that in Cannor, human cities aren't built on the graves of elven ones, nor are there ancient elven ruins lurking around, that bit will come in the next dev diary!


Small pockets of elves, gnomes, dwarves, halflings, and gnolls live alongside humans along the shores of the Dameshead Sea. For reference, anything that doesn't have a race is a human culture.

The diversity of fantasy worlds doesn’t play well with the more homogenous nature of EU4’s provincial cultures, so we had to change some things around. Enter pops-lite, which we call the ‘racial system’.

Each province has both its majority race, which is determined by the vanilla primary culture, and any number of minorities, shown as province modifiers. Each of these provide their own effects on the province, making territories inhabited by goblins behave differently from those owned by humans. Put lots of different people together and you can get a truly crazy situation - like that found in the multicultural City of Anbenncost, the melting pot of Cannor:



Anbennar is our super Constantinople, and is a mix of King’s Landing, London and eventually Dishonored’s Dunwall

To give insight on your country’s minorities, we have added a neat menu where you can check the cultural make-up of your country, show your country's current tolerance to different races and give you tools to change this tolerance:
Racial Menus

We want Anbennar to be as approachable and accessible as possible (for starters, anyway), so our races don't diverge significantly from their common tropes: elves are good at magic and the bow, dwarves have a penchant for grudges and alcohol, etc.. Rather than getting bogged down in a truly alien world, you can jump straight into Anbennar with minimal background knowledge, get the basic premise of the world quickly, and start playing the game and taking in the cool stories we have to tell.


Elven Military modifiers

Alongside these provinces and tolerance events, your dominant race will also affect how your country’s administration and military works. An army of elves may be gifted in battle, but will replenish its ranks much more slowly than a human or goblin army. It raises a unique question that can really put you in the mindset of your country’s race: how much is an elven life worth? Will you lead your coalition of allies deep into enemy territory knowing that your army will take decades more to recover than the others? Or would you abandon the follies of men, rejecting calls to war and leaving lesser races to squabble and fight?

Returning our focus to the Empire of Anbennar, we have similarities and differences to the vanilla HRE. Unlike the HRE, the electors of Anbennar represent not only the nobles and clergy, but also mages and the other races within the empire. The Magisterium represents the will of the mages, the Elfrealm of Moonhaven for the elves, Silverforge for the dwarves and the merchant republic of Beepeck for the halflings.


In the old days, Anbennar was actually directly ruled by mages. Nowadays, it’s just ruled by emperors who are preferred to be mages. Progress, eh?

Once ruled by the half-elven Silmuna family, the empire has just emerged from the Fourth Lilac War, the latest in a Hundred Years War-esque struggle over the Imperial Crown between the Silmuna family and the Siloriel dynasty of the neighboring kingdom of Lorent. In 1443, Lothane, the Grand Duke of Wex toppled the Silmunas and now stands precariously atop the imperial power structure, backed by their powerful ally, the Kingdom of Lorent.


Lorent is red and Gawed is blue - so of course they’re enemies. Ever wonder why we’re here?


The halflings sit between a rock and a hard place, I’ll let you decide which is which

To the west and north of the Empire of Anbennar sit the two other great powers of the continent - The Red Rose of Lorent, victor of the Lilac Wars, vies with the Northern Eagle of Gawed for supremacy of the verdant Small Country and its halfling population. Hundreds of years of animosity has made these two giants bitter rivals, and both see the end of the Silmunas as an opportunity to expand their reach without imperial intervention. But their many conquests have left their realms unstable, prone to revolt from powerful merchants, rebellious vassals, and those among the smallfolk who remember what it is to be free under their own sky…



It’s called the Dragon Coast because it vaguely looks like a dragon. Never let anyone say people aren’t creative when they name things.



Our last stop in Western Cannor sits in the westernmost part of the continent, the peninsula known as the Dragon Coast. Once the seat of the Gnomish Hierarchy, one of antiquity’s great powers, gnomish civilization was destroyed during the Dragonwake, when the servants of the scaled ones poured from their underground caverns and drowned the gnomes in a tide of kobold blood.


Kobolds are a hard start until you fully immerse yourself in the trapmaking and ambush mentality: attrition, attrition, attrition

Now the gnomes attempt to retake the coast from the kobolds, and both sides will use every trick up their sleeves to triumph in this conflict, including the burgeoning art of artifice, where science and magic become one. These races and goblins get early access to the artificer estate, which represents the mechanization and industrialization of magic in a country. Spending state resources will allow you to research artificer inventions, which can drastically empower your artificer regiments (our version of the Rajput regiments) and change the way you play.


Wandlocks are one of the many inventions you can discover

Escann: Aftermath of the Greentide​

Escann: instead of colonial empires settling foreign shores, its adventurers resettling a destroyed land

Heading east from Cannor, you’ll find Escann - a land once full of chivalric kingdoms until the Greentide and its orcs came in 1424. It’s been 20 years since then, and one RPG protagonist later (cough, Corin), the land is ripe for adventure. It’s a clean slate. A new frontier. A land of opportunity.


Corin by Valorique

The Greentide is an example of one of Anbennar’s strengths as a homebrew setting. Since we’ve crafted Anbennar from scratch, we can make sure the lore synergizes with the gameplay and vice versa, giving us great flexibility compared to other mods that recreate an existing setting in a PDX game. In this case, lead developer JayBean wanted this land of adventure and the creation of new kingdoms to be a place that was critical to the world and not something shoehorned in. The Greentide is a crucial event that we built for this outcome, with its aftermath shaking the foundations of the nearby regions and really setting the stage to facilitate the right kind of gameplay systems and experience we’re aiming for.


With the 4X-like symmetric start, this means Escann will be very different each time you play

While Cannor proper delivers a vanilla start, we wanted Escann to offer a unique twist that really emphasizes our fantasy world. You know how D&D is all about adventuring? Well, in Escann, we've tweaked the vanilla migration and tribal land mechanics to let those adventuring parties actually wander the map and adventure.
But that's not our main focus here. We're a strategy game at heart, so what if we explore the idea of a D&D party setting up their own nation?


Decisions to reform the old Escanni Bladmarches, or form your own adventurer country that comes with new lore specific to your adventuring band


Adventurer of course, come with special government reforms and mechanics

Either as orcs or adventurers, your process of settling will involve claiming tribal land, progressing through your mission trees, and completing government reforms before finally reaching your formables. Depending on who you began the game as, the government reforms you’ve selected, and the regions of Escann you have conquered, you’ll have different options - perhaps you will refound an old kingdom with the aid of returning refugees, or perhaps you will take a darker path - one of unbridled sorcery, away from the prying eyes of the Magisterium…



Adventurers and Mages are the backbone of the new estates you can expect in Anbennar, but far from the only ones

No fantasy world is complete without some form of magic, and Anbennar is no exception.

Magic is accessed two ways - the Mages Estate, and the magic of a ruler with the Powerful Mage trait. The former represents the agglomeration of mages in your country and their ability to function within the administrative apparatus of the state. Through the mages, you can cast realm magic - spells that target a broad swathe of the nation over a long period of time. Make the mages powerful and influential, and the power of the spells you ask them to cast will increase!


UI Magic - bet you didn’t know EU4 could do this!


You do gotta study though


When it comes to your ruler, this system represents only the most powerful of mages: those capable of destroying entire armies with a spell, as that's what makes sense on a grand strategy scale.

Ruler Magic functions a bit differently. If your ruler happens to have the Powerful Mage trait, you can make them into a War Wizard - a general with exceptionally high Shock and Siege Pips which represents the kind of mage that can wipe out entire armies with a flick of a wrist.

Of course, you also get your own version of Realm Magic, casting spells based off your own skill rather than loyalty and influence of an estate.. Unlike Realm Magic, spells cast by a Powerful Mage tend to be acute in their effect - the ability to smite down fortress walls, or create a simulacrum, or even - if you are daring - to follow the path of necromancy, raising undead armies and seeking immortality as a lich.

The Eight Schools of Magic as inspired by D&D

Your Powerful Mage can learn more by dedicating time and resources to studying magic. But those who follow dark paths into arts forbidden by the international magical community risk accumulating Magical Infamy - cast too many spells of necromancy, dominate the minds of one too many foe, or prove yourself callous on the field of war with magics best left sealed away, and you may be declared a Witch King by the international community - which, while granting certain bonuses, will certain elicit a response from those who look to destroy evil.

Are we the baddies?


This CB was made specifically for fans of Tolkien’s Last Alliance of Elves and Men

The Witch Kings Era is our take on the Age of Absolutism, and after the age of adventurers in Escann ends, a great deluge of events (which we won’t spoil) causes the rise of incredibly powerful mages across the entire region, for in Anbennar, magic is the divine right of kings made manifest.

Anbennar is all about offering you the chance to experience a wide array of fantasies and scenarios you'd anticipate in a fantasy world. Picture this: becoming the malevolent sorcerer ruling with an iron grip. In this phase, Escann transforms into a battleground of doom, where only one can claim supremacy at the end...



One such outcome for Escann is the Black Demesne. If you’re a fan of the Black Company series, this one’s for you. I suggest you start as Esthíl in order to ascend to this formable.

Bulwar: The Second Age of Monsters​

From darkness, into the light. Note that the vast majority of our loading screen art is done by our long-time dev, Biegeltoren


Bulwar in 1444. Note the harpies of Ayaralen, Nansalen, and Hidiranyalen in the west, as well as the gnolls Tluukt and Zokka in the south.

Following the coastline of Cannor south and east, we arrive in a brilliant and sunny land - Bulwar, Anbennar’s equivalent of the Ancient Middle East. Heavily inspired by peoples like the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Persians, Bulwar has been divided into petty kingdoms and city states since time immemorial, never completely unified until Jaher and the Sun Elves arrived 400 years before the start of the game.


The Samartal Summit by Biegeltoren
Fun fact - Bulwar, alongside Gerudia, were the earliest regions implemented after Cannor. Like the norse-inspired peoples of Gerudia, we wanted to explore what if ancient cultures surviving to the medieval times and beyond

What if Alexander the great conquered China?

One of the most important characters in Anbennar’s history, the sun elf Jaher, is our equivalent. He liberated Bulwar, founded the Phoenix Empire and conquered eastwards to Rahen and Yanshen (India and China respectively), before he was assassinated and his empire crumbled into warring successor states. Bulwar in 1444 is split into six major elven kingdoms, who divided the lands of the Phoenix Empire between themselves. Each of these states styles itself the rightful successor to Jaher’s throne, much like the Diadochi kingdoms run by Alexander the Great’s generals after his death.

Unlike the usual trope with these type of imperious elven nations, our sun elves do not rule an elven kingdom for elves alone - instead, these lords rule over the native Bulwari human city-states and petty kingdoms that long ago pledged allegiance to Jaher. Their control over these subjects has been slipping of late, however - largely due to constant infighting and invasion by the non-human inhabitants of Bulwar - goblins, gnolls, and harpies.


Gnolls have received their own unit models in this coming update - pretty cute for a 7 foot tall hyena-man, huh?

Longtime antagonists for the Bulwari, harpies and gnolls are seen as “monstrous” at game start, a status they share with the goblins and orcs that have invaded of late. Monstrousness, as represented in Anbennar, is not a question of personhood or civilization, but one of participation in the accepted norms of diplomatic negotiation that define the settled states of Halann. Monstrous nations do not fabricate claims or abide by the niceties of negotiations - instead, they have access to the extremely powerful “Monstrous Conquest” casus belli, allowing them to attack any neighbor in a superiority war to conquer land and extract tribute if they win.

Design wise, this distinction exists to fulfill the usual tropes of the division and consistent warfare between traditionally antagonistic D&D races; humans against orcs, dwarves against goblins, and in this case, elves vs gnolls.


Monster CB

This societal philosophy of “Might makes Right” leaves many wary about negotiating with Monstrous nations, which can leave them isolated and at a disadvantage when non-monstrous nations bring war against them with the “Anti-Monstrous Conquest” CB, pushing these tags out of lands that the are seen as occupying without any legal standing.

Of course, the idea of monstrousness is something challenged repeatedly in the history of Anbennar’s world. In Anbennar, no one is truly good or evil, so many “monstrous” nations manage to enter the diplomatic sphere as equals in canon. To simulate this, monstrous nations can choose to go through a process of “Demonsterization” - reforming their societies from the inside and proving their willingness to abide by accepted conventions of coexistence and bellum justum.


This removes diplomatic malus associated with being monstrous

Bulwar is not just a land of conflict between races though - it also features some major schisms in religion. When Jaher liberated Bulwar from the gnolls and harpies, the priests of the Sun Cult proclaimed Jaher to be the god Surael Reborn, the embodiment of the Sun, the Last God, returned to earth to save the Bulwari from the darkness. When Jaher died, the Sun Cult proclaimed that the sun elves were the inheritors of Jaher’s mantle as Surael’s Chosen, selected by Surael to lead the Bulwari in matters spiritual and temporal. But while this was the position of the majority of the sun priests, there were those who dissented. Some rejected the divinity of Jaher and the elves outright, and became referred to as the “Old Sun Cult”, in contrast with the mainline “New Sun Cult”. The New Sun Cult hunted these heretics down and forced most into hiding - in 1444, only the secluded state of Dasmatus and armies loyal to Dartaxes szel-Forammaz, a general turned rebel king, remain of the Old Sun Cult.


If the Old Sun Cult can succeed in their mission to liberate the holy places of Bulwar from Sun Elven Rule, they will gain some major bonuses

For their part, the New Sun Cult faces a significant loss of its authority from the invasions of the Exodus Goblins in the north (who fled from the Greentide), and the successes of the gnollish chiefdoms of Tluukt and Zokka in the south. The sun elves, as Surael’s chosen, are supposed to protect and lead the Bulwari - but as Bulwar comes under assault, so does their position as lords of Bulwar.

The relationship between the perceived role of the Sun Elves in society and the evolving socio-political landscape of Bulwar is represented with a reworked Isolationism mechanic, with incidents leading to an increase or decrease in temporal elven power depending on how they are handled.


Jaddar Jexiszuir, prophet of the Jadd, grandson of Jaher, Commander of the Desert Legion

Further east, in the harsh sands of the Salahadesi desert, we find the other splinter of the Sun Cult, a new faith that is practiced only by former Phoenix Empire legionaries and their harpy allies. The Jaddari believe that Jaher’s death did not vest divinity in humans or elves alone - rather, Jaher’s status as the Chosen of Surael now belongs to all who choose to take up the mantle and fight against the Malevolent Dark. Led by their commander and prophet, Jaddar, the Jaddari are poised to make a great expansion across Bulwar and beyond, spreading their religion to the four winds and changing the history of the world forever.


Jadd with their ally Elayenna in their initial war of dominance against Zokka

Based on our last community poll, the Jaddari stands out as Anbennar’s most popular tag and mission tree. Leading a righteous crusade into Bulwar and venturing eastward into Rahen and Haless, the Jaddari aims to spread the light of Surael through spear and steel. They're ready to strike down those who defies the Jadd and opposes Jaddar’s divine mandate, while welcoming anyone, be it elf, human, or even gnoll, who embraces his cause. This epic journey kicks off with a fierce battle against the demon-worshipping gnoll Zokka, known as the Devourer of Suns, in a life-or-death clash.


Ruler of the Eastern Sands

From here, the Jaddari missions opens up - literally. Their mission tree is extensive, and has the opportunity to expand if you succeed in proclaiming the Jadd Empire. It will see you repair the ancient Jaherian highways that connect east with west, integrate various peoples into your realm, and hold festivities to Surael to distract your people from your crippling overextension issues gloriously unify the people in prayer. Take a look below - this is a good example of the types of quests that mission trees provide in Anbennar, but we’ll let you discover the others by yourself.


A snippet of the Jaddari MT

The Dwarovar: The Age of Reclamation​

Hall of the Ancestors in Amldihr

The unique underground gameplay of the Dwarovar was the first big thing that brought many players and content creators to Anbennar, so I hope this section brings back some good memories for those who’ve played before… so for today’s final part of the mod spotlight, we’ll take you through the twists and turns of the Serpentspine - because if this won’t get you to download the mod, I don’t know what will!

On the edge of Cannor and Bulwar, under mountains long inhabited by orcs and goblins, adventurers have come - drawn by the promise of untold riches and the dream of restoring their ancestral homeland, many dwarven adventuring companies have traveled into the mountains. But the Dwarovar is far from safe - many dangers yet lurk, and the natives who remain are far from interested in allowing these interlopers from the surface to take their lands.


The Serpentspine Mountains, also known as the Dwarovar

The Serpentspine is a vast mountain range, bisecting the supercontinent of Halcann and splitting it into four pieces - Cannor, Bulwar, Haless, and the Forbidden Plains. Long and thin, it is unusually hollow, pocked with vast caverns filled with unusual flora and fauna. Throughout the mountains run the ruins of ancient Dwarven civilization - ruined railways, broken irrigation systems, and the lost city-state Holds of Aul-Dwarov.

Some of you might be wondering why we didn’t decide to split the Dwarovar out onto a separate “underground map” away in the corner. The main driver for the integrated approach is a desire to let you see the outside world at your doorstep. It’s an amazing feeling to see the surface world develop as a dwarf, knowing that you have your own little pocket world where you don't have to deal with the foolishness of tallfolk too much, but not being completely insulated from the machinations of those beyond your gates. If you’re off just staring into an underground corner of the map, you won’t get that same connection and compare/contrast feeling.

The province layout of the Dwarovar really changes how EU4 is played. Dwarven holds (yellow), Caverns (black), dwarven rail roads (blueish gray).


The ruined dwarfholds of Aul-Dwarov are yours for reconquest, if only you can take them.

Most tags that you encounter down here begin as one-province migratory bands. Instead of using tribal land like Escanni adventurers, dwarven adventurers aren’t interested in staking their claim on miles of worthless caves, however - no, they’re after two things: gold and glory. To get these things, you’ll need to keep moving, exploring the caves to find Expedition Targets - the site of great adventures and treasure - and of course: dwarven holds, which you can repair and refound and take up the mantle of its ancient specialization. Like adventurer countries, each dwarven hold comes with its own lore, ideas and mission trees.


Natives with huge population and ferocity, to represent the goblins and orcs that dwell in the depths



Expedition Targets in the Serpentsreach

To speak more about those expeditions I just mentioned - Expedition Targets are province modifiers, visible on the trade map, that you can send an expedition to explore if you control them. Anyone who controls an expedition can attempt it, but OPM adventurers complete them much faster, encouraging you to seek these out BEFORE you settle down in your hold and begin colonizing the railways and caverns around you.

More UI Magic

Expeditions yield rewards in monarch points and gold if you complete them, with longer and more dangerous expeditions being worth more. You’ll need to send your dungeon delvers with plenty of supplies and manpower, and promise them a good share of the loot to attract high quality warriors to the cause, if you hope to triumph over the challenges contained therein. If you do, then you will not only gain the mana and gold, but occasionally find rare relics of the dwarven empire - knowledge that will help you repair dwarven holds, gemstones from the lost crown of the Dwarven High King, or even legendary locations that warrant further investigation.



Ovdal Kanzad was many people’s first tag for their Dwarovar playthrough: surrounded by goblins with only walls and cannons as your friends.

Of course, interloping adventurers seeking treasure aren’t the only people in the Dwarovar. Not every dwarven hold fell with the empire - some have endured, isolated in the dark, fearing to venture beyond their defenses. These remnant holds have, due to the Greentide, recently noticed the change in the world beyond their walls, and are beginning to shake off their ancient slumber. To do so, however, they will need to convince the traditionalists among their kin that it is time to open the gates - which will require much bribing, cajoling, and fighting to accomplish.


To escape the disaster of their isolation, the remnant holds will have to empower factions in their government that seek restoration, while placating or suppressing those who would see these upstarts stay within the walls.

In the case of either remnants or adventurers, the colonization and conquest of dwarven holds is your primary goal. Clearing out the orc and goblins that inhabit them will allow you to restore the hold infrastructure and begin to deepen them. After all, you can't be a dwarf if you can't dig too greedily and too deeply.

Digging a hold deeper is a major investment, but it will reward you with some powerful stacking modifiers that allow you to continue pushing their development ever higher, as in reality these holds were entire cities, ecosystems or even countries in of themselves. As more levels are added and reclaimed in the hold, you will be able to specialize the structure, gaining unique modifiers and building legendary inventions as you reach the deepest levels.


Once upon a time, the hold level was measured in depth. We decided that was a bad idea, and opted for some abstract levels instead.

If you’re not interested in playing dwarves reclaiming their empire, however, the Dwarovar has plenty of other tags for you. Goblins, kobolds, and orcs also inhabit the depths, and have their own goals. Goblin animosity towards the dwarves is even more ancient than that between dwarf and orc, and the goblins have claimed many ancient holds for themselves. As a subterranean digging race (alongside dwarves and kobolds), they too can dig these holds deeper and build their own civilization on the bones of dwarven arrogance, eschewing dwarven tradition for their own course into the future fueled by artifice and a reckless disregard for safety.


WIP UI Magic - Goblin artificer edition



You reacting to that UI above

Orcs take a different approach to holds than goblins or kobolds. The orcish warbands do not seek to perpetually deepen the holds they take - no, orcs are looters and conquerors and instead they are interested in stripping the holds of all their valuables and returning the treasures and knowledge of the dwarves to their warcampfor the glory of their clans. By damaging and degrading the holds they conquer, the orcs take trophies that provide global modifiers and bring development back to their capital, pushing it to ever greater heights. The broken holds can then be repurposed as military camps to power the orcish war machine as you prepare to take the next hold.

Finally, no mention of the Dwarovar could be completed without discussing the consequences of the great works you have wrought on the world. In digging deep for gold and glory, you will undoubtedly encounter many things that would have been better off undisturbed. In the darkness of the Dwarovar lie horrors of the mind, body, and soul - and they will come for those foolish enough to think themselves immune. An unbridled lust for gold, a sickness long sealed away, invaders from deeper below the surface, horror from the stars above - these challenges and more await you in the Dwarovar, and will test your mettle as no normal EU4 disaster ever has.



With all that dev from holds, we gotta give you something to keep you on your toes, right?

WRAP-UP​

And that, finally, brings us to the end of our Mod Spotlight.

We want to thank you for going on this journey with us, and hope that you’ve found yourself intrigued enough to pick up the mod and give it a go. For those already accustomed to Anbennar, we hope you learned an insight or two about this crazy mod we all love. And to the devs past and present, thank you for helping build this world and creating what is truly the best EU4 modding can offer!

We know there’s a lot to take in - Anbennar has been growing as a setting for nine years, and has been an EU4 mod for five now - and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we have to offer.

If you have thoughts or questions about this world of ours, or if you’re interested in growing the mod, come on over to the discord and chat with us - we’re always looking for new writers, coders, artists, and testers! We’re also slowly and surely working on a CK3 and Vicky3 versions of the mod, which will cover the same time periods as those games.

We’ll be back next week to tell you more about our upcoming update and the other continents of Halann - until then, happy EU4 10th Anniversary!

LINKS​

• Steam Workshop (old ver, only on 1.34.5)
• Bitbucket Dev Build (compatible with latest)
• Anbennar Lore Primer
• Anbennar Wiki
• Anbennar Discord
• Subreddit
• Patreon
• Merch Store